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Out of all Google’s announcements at Google I/O 2023 this past week, most of them revolved around AI, but chances are you never would have guessed that any of the announcements would include the fast food chain Wendy’s.
During Google I/O, the official Google for Developers Twitter account confirmed that Wendy’s is now using the PaLM AI language model to help people place orders. Based on the tweet, this appears to work from inside the Wendy’s app. So that’s something you’ll need to have installed on your phone.
Once you open the app, you can load the new ‘talk-to-menu’ feature. At this point a friendly voice will greet you and say “welcome to Wendy’s. What would you like today?” You can then speak back to the app and tell it what you want, and the talk-to-menu feature will then add the food to your bag. Proceed to pay for your food, then you can go pick it up.
Now this isn’t too much different than just tapping the menu items you want to add them to your order. But thanks to the inclusion of the PaLM AI language model, it makes the entire transaction more lifelike and conversational. Just like you were sitting at the drive-thru.
🍔 @Wendys is using the PaLM API to help customers place their orders using their talk-to-menu feature.#GoogleIO pic.twitter.com/tBA6mNSSZi
— Google for Developers (@googledevs) May 10, 2023
Wendy’s may not be the last food app to use the Google AI language model
Wendy’s definitely appears to be the first fast food app to use the AI language model. But it probably won’t be the last.
It comes off as an organic way to play the order and wouldn’t be surprising to see other apps do the same thing. Basically any food app from a restaurant chain could make use of it. And it would make a whole lot of sense for others to start working with the tool.
In fact, Google confirmed on Wednesday that developers can now sign up for access to the PaLM API and Maker Suite. Both of which are tools that will allow for the same kind of implementation Wendy’s is using.